Web Hosting and How it Affects Server Response Time: What You Should Know

If you have a business and you wish to establish an online presence, take note that it is not going to be easy. Several factors will be influential in your success. Among others, one of the most important would be web hosting.

In the rest of this short post, we will be looking at the impact of web hosting on server response time. The two are dependent on each other. Therefore, if the web host is problematic, you can expect the server response time to be unusually slow.

What is Web Hosting?

Before anything else, let us first have a quick look at what exactly web hosting is.

Web hosting refers to a service that will allow an individual or an organization to post a website online. For instance, Geek Dashboard is running on Vultr managed with Cloudways. The provider supplies the technology that is needed for the website to be visible online. Without web hosts, the website will be inexistent. This can be viewed as online storage with all the contents of the website.

If you plan to put up a website and you are undecided on which one to choose, check out this web hosting for small business.

What is Server Response Time and Why Is It Important?

Now that we have established what web hosting is all about, let us take a look at server response time and determine its importance.

In a nutshell, server response time will determine the speed of the website. If it is slow, it will take a while before the website will load. Technically, server response time refers to the actual time that it will take for the server to respond to the request from the client. In turn, a slow speed will kill the bottom line of your website. For businesses, what this means is that there will be a negative impact on profitability.

If the website is slow, the guest experience will be affected. For instance, if someone is buying a new dress online but the website takes a long time to proceed, the customer may back out from the transaction. If a person is trying to book a hotel but the photos of the rooms are taking forever to load, the visitor may leave and search for another hotel instead. In short, a slow server will kill the business.

The Relationship Between the Two

The quality of the web host will have an impact on the server response time. If the web host is reliable, speed is not going to be an issue. On the other hand, if the web host cannot be trusted, the website can suffer from frequent downtimes.

According to PageSpeed Insights, the ideal server response time is below 200ms. As soon as a request is made, the clock starts ticking. If the web host is capable of offering premium services, it won’t take long before the page requested will be able to load. The shorter the response time is, the better the performance.

From the things that have been discussed, one thing is pretty much obvious – the faster the web hosting is, the shorter will be the server response time. This means that the quicker the website will be able to load. This is important because most people have a short attention span. If the website takes a while to load, the bounce rate will be high. Meaning, the visitors will be leaving the website even before they make a favorable action.

Some websites are resource-intensive. This is especially the case if there are tons of videos and photos that are included on the website. Those with the predominantly textual content will not be as intensive. If your website is resource-intensive, you need a premium web hosting plan that is capable of providing your needs.

The web host is the one that determines how much of their resource will be given to a specific client. Logically, this will depend on how much you are paying. If you are paying too little, why would they allow you to use their resources when they can be given instead to higher-paying clients? The host may skimp on the speed that your website enjoys, and this ultimately impacts the server response time.

If the performance of your website is sluggish, this is perhaps the most obvious indication that you need to find a more reliable web hosting or update to a more expensive plan. As much as possible, get rid of those offering cheap services. Chances are, their service will be inferior. Do not hesitate to spend more if this means improved performance for the website.

A lot of website owners tend to choose shared hosting because it saves them money. However, this could negatively affect the server response time. This is basically because multiple users are sharing the same server, making it easier for the maximum capacity to be reached. In contrast, when you opt for dedicated web hosting, each site will have its server. If you feel you are not technical enough to manage a dedicated server, don’t worry you buy a managed dedicated server at Cloudways with 24×7 support.

Other Factors that Affect Server Response Time

Aside from poor web hosting, other factors will have an impact on server response time, including the following:

1. Increased Website Traffic: The more people are visiting a specific website at a given time, the slower the server response time will be. Once the capacity of the server has been reached, the website will slow down. This explains why a lot of e-commerce stores tend to be unusually slower during flash sales.
2. Lack of Caching: The quick delivery of website content to users will be affected by caching. If there is a lack of caching, therefore, the response time will be slowed down. This is because there is still a need for the browser to request the server.
3. Bloated Web pages: In the absence of practicing the right optimization techniques, web pages can get easily bloated. This can happen when the wrong types of files are used or when they are oversized.

Being said that you should always develop a habit of taking regular backups of your dedicated server to save your business from attackers and server failures.